"First, even the best liner
and leachate collection system will ultimately fail due to
natural deterioration, and recent improvements in MSWLF
containment technologies suggest that releases may be delayed by
many decades at some landfills. For this reason, the Agency is
concerned that while corrective action may have already been
triggered at many facilities, 30 years may be insufficient to
detect releases at other landfills."Source:
US EPA Federal Register, Aug 30, 1988, Vol.53, No.168, (scanned document).Check-out Peter Montegue's Rachel's for list of other comments in Federal Register by EPA.

SUMMARY

The U.S. has 3,091 active landfills and over
10,000 old municipal landfills, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. However, in the
"good old days," every town (and many businesses and
factories) had its own dump. According to the 1997 U.S. Census, there are
39,044 general purpose local governments in the United States -
3,043 county governments and 36,001 subcounty general purpose
governments (towns & townships). One suspects that there are
many more old and abandoned commercial, private, and municipal
dumps than the 10,000 estimated by the EPA.

Municipal landfills and their leachate (water) and
air emissions are hazardous. Municipal landfills can accept hazardous waste
under federal law. An unlimited number of 'conditionally exempt small
generators' of hazardous waste have access to municipal landfills. (See
40 CFR 261.5).

All landfills will eventually fail and leak leachate into ground and surface water. Plastics are not inert. State-of-the-art plastic (HDPE) landfill liners (1/10 inch or 100 mils thick) and plastic pipes allow chemicals and gases to pass through their membranes, become brittle, swell, and breakdown.

According to Dr. Fred Lee, "detection in new landfills can be difficult since the only way to know this is detection in the monitoring wells. The likelihood of a monitoring well at a single or double lined landfill detecting an initial leak is very small." Monitoring wells should be located in areas most likely to detect contamination (i.e., testing the ground water after it has passed under the landfill.) See: Subchapter I: Solid Waste. Lined landfills leak in very narrow plumes, whereas old, unlined landfills will produce wide plumes of leachate.

Old and new landfills are typically
located next to large bodies of water (i.e., rivers, lakes, bays,
etc), making leakage detection and remediation (clean-up)
extremely difficult. This is due to the incursion of surface
water in both instances. Federal and state governments have
allowed landfill operators to locate landfills next to water
bodies under the misguided principle: Detection by monitoring wells
can also be very difficult at lined landfills. Lined landfills
leak in very narrow plumes, whereas old, unlined landfills will
produce wide plumes of leachate.

All landfills could require remediation, but particularly landfills built in the last 60 years will require a thorough clean-up due to the disposal of highly toxic chemicals manufactured and sold since the 1940's. See:Remediation
and Brownsfields

EXPERTS & WEBSITES:

JANUARY 2007: "Lynn, I wish to bring to your attention a new paper has been published on the health effects of hazardous chemical sites such as landfills, where the authors have shown an association between proximity to such sites and increased incidence of hospitalization for diabetes. Please find enclosed a recent write-up that I have prepared on this issue, in which I have included discussion of the diabetes paper, as well as an earlier paper on birth defects. If you or others in your group have questions or comments, please contact me."

Dennis E. Williams, Ph.D., founder and president of GEOSCIENCE Support Services, Inc., 1326 Monte Vista Avenue, Suite 3, P.O. Box 220, Claremont, CA 91711, (909) 920-0707, formed in 1978 to provide consulting to the ground water industry. Dr. Williams has over 30 years of experience in ground water consulting, specializing in ground water planning, development and management, with specific emphasis on the ground water basins of Southern California.LANDFILLS THAT LEAK

National Recycling Council By Notice dated April 6, 2000 (65 Fed. Reg. 18014), the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency ("EPA") requested comments and information concerning the design and performance of so-called "bioreactor landfills." We are writing in response to this request on behalf of our client, the National Recycling Coalition, Inc. (the "Coalition"). CARTER, LEDYARD & MILBURN

Landfills That Leakby Dennis E. Williams, Ph.D founder and president of GEOSCIENCE Support Services, Inc., 1326 Monte Vista Avenue, Suite 3, P.O. Box 220, Claremont, CA 91711, (909) 920-0707, formed in 1978 to provide consulting to the ground water industry. Dr. Williams has over 30 years of experience in ground water consulting, specializing in ground water planning, development and management, with specific emphasis on the ground water basins of Southern California./

RECYCLING LEACHATE BACK THROUGH A LANDFILL: Based on the available literature,
pumping leachate back through a landfill causes increased
decomposition, and it seems logical that it would also create a
super toxic leachate. In addition, it would most likely
accelerate the decomposition of the liner itself, thereby
allowing leachate to contaminate ground water at an increased
rate.

NOTE: When looking for
information on local recycling and waste disposal, call your
local municipal government. In some cases, the county (or parish)
will be your starting point. For state and federal information on
environmental issues, including solid waste, visit the following
webpage - EPA Regions & State Environmental
Departments